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Monthly Archives: December 2012

The red carpet was full of celebrities last night in LA. Ciara, Keri Hilson, Lala, Lisa Raye, Kelly Rowland and more hit the red carpet at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium for the 2012 Vh1 Divas. Check out some pics:

Frank Ocean has won over the hearts of many and has made an honestly lyrical mark in the world of music.

Raking in six Grammy nominations, the singer/songwriter caught up with the Guardian to discuss his accomplishments, his lyrics and what artists he’s been listening to, but most importantly Frank reveals that Channel Orange could be his last album!

Check out excerpts from the interview below:

I’d like to talk about your lyrics. You seem to work in a very cinematic way.

Whenever I think about movies, I always look at that art process as having the best of a lot of worlds. Because if you watch a great film, you have a musical element to it, not just on the scoring, but in the way that the shots are edited – that has music and rhythm and time.

Obviously the cinematography of films is art, just as a still shot can be art. If I’m watching a Wes Anderson movie, the colour palettes alone, and the way they’re painted, could be art. With music you’re a little bit limited, of course, because it’s only audio. Apart from the artwork and the music videos, if you can get the label to give you money for shit like that, or if you can do it yourself. But the storytelling, that’s where you can really paint pictures. You can’t do it with a melody or a sound or a rhythm or a chord progression. The storytelling part of it is the most interesting and challenging part of the whole process for me.

That’s quite unusual. A lot of people don’t take care over their lyrics like that.

I don’t think that’s true. A lot of people do. That’s a real – what’s the word? – a strength, a focus rather, of a lot of contemporary musicians. But you’re right. Some people focus more on sonics. Some people focus more on story. I focus on both sonics and story, but music sometimes, just music itself, can turn into more of a maths problem. I guess everything in life is a math problem, but it can be more about an empirical route to getting the symmetry that you want, and this vibe, sonically. But storytelling’s a different thing. Like I said, it’s the more interesting part about making music for me, or making albums and songs and stuff. So much so that I might not make another album. I might just write a novel next. I don’t know!

I don’t believe you. You just said you were in the studio.

Yeah, but I was working on another artist. I wasn’t working on me.

So Channel Orange could be your last album? This could be it?

It could be. It could be it, if I flew next week and my plane crashed! It could be it if somebody walked along and shot me for my bracelet or something. It could always be it. The idea of recognising your strengths and using them in as versatile a way as you can is cool to me. I don’t ever want to be caught up in a system of thinking I can do one thing cos that’s just … that’s just telling yourself a lie. But I do like to sing. I play piano every day. I enjoy that.

For its campaign with Beyonce next year, Pepsi doesn’t just want to sign up the telegenic pop star for another TV commercial. It also wants to get into the Beyoncé business. A limited edition Pepsi can developed in partnership between the beverage company and Beyoncé will first be seen in Europe in March 2013.

In an expansion of the recent marketing experiments that have brought PepsiCo ever closer to the music industry, the company has embarked on a hybrid project with Beyoncé that will include standard advertising like commercials as well as a multimillion-dollar fund to support the singer’s chosen creative projects.

“Pepsi embraces creativity and understands that artists evolve,” Beyoncé said in a statement. “As a businesswoman, this allows me to work with a lifestyle brand with no compromise and without sacrificing my creativity.”

The campaign will coincide with a blitz of promotion for her next album, which has no title or release date so far but is expected in 2013. Sometime after she performs at the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 3 (also sponsored by Pepsi), Beyoncé will appear in a new TV ad — her fifth for the soft drink since 2002 — and her face will be on a limited-edition line of soda cans.

Miami rapper Rick Ross has come forward to clarify recent reports surrounding the cancellation of dates on his Maybach Music Tour. The Maybach Music Tour, which kicked off on November 2, was originally scheduled to run until December 2.

Representatives from Rick Ross confirmed hat the tour was supposed to continue until December 16. But the outing was abruptly canceled by promoters in Greensboro and Charlotte North Carolina.

Reps for Rick Ross said that the first leg of the tour was completed successfully without incident, but due to the “apparent lack of organization and communication on the part of the tour promoter,” the remaining dates of the Maybach Music Tour have officially been canceled.

“I want to apologize to all of my fans who I missed performing for due to the cancellations and want to let them know that I will get back to their cities,” “I enjoyed my experience with my little bros Wale and Meek Mill and I’m ready to get back in the studio to make good music.”

Miami rap star Rick Ross canceled two concerts in North Carolina this weekend, after police stated security would be beefed up over gang threats against the rapper. Rick Ross canceled concerts in Greensboro and Charlotte, although the exact reason has not been confirmed.

According to the Charlotte Observer, local police were on high alert, over numerous threats against Rick Ross in recent weeks, by various factions of The Gangster Disciples.

The GD’s are upset over the fact that Rick Ross allegedly reneged on some sort of agreement and over the usage of the gang’s six-point star on the cover of his mixtape “The Black Bar Mitzvah.”

Lebron James is the new 2012 Sportsman of the Year, and he copped his award at a big honoree ceremony in NYC. His fiance Savannah Brinson was there to celebrate, as well as his “mentor” Jay-Z and wife Beyonce.